Why did you choose to write about Holiday?
In a way it chose me. I was introduced to Charles Miers, publisher of Rizzoli New York, and we started talking about my doing a memoir. When he found out that I had worked at Holiday, which unbeknown to me, he was fascinated by, he asked if I’d be interested in doing something on the history of it. I only worked there for a few years, but I knew a fair amount about it. It’s the magazine that gave me my wings. I was immediately interested.
Did you have access to old magazine issues?
Some. There were no archives to speak of. The company — Curtis Publishing — had folded. I went to eBay and I started to buy up as many issues as I could. There was a lot there. Not everything, but enough to give me a good sense of why the magazine was so special. Before it, there had been nothing like it.
Holiday started just after World War II, when a lot of soldiers were coming back with a great sense of optimism. But they also wanted to be home, and home meant doing a lot of things under the G.I. Bill — getting an education, buying cars, buying houses.
What Curtis Publishing did was take a risk and bet that eventually these people would become a little restless and curious about what was out there and, with their new cars, would be able to take trips.
Did you learn anything surprising while working on the book?
The first few issues were edited by a fellow who was pretty mundane in his view of the world and they were not very interesting graphically. Curtis wisely found another man who was much more worldly — Ted Patrick — and he edited the magazine until the early 1960s. His vision was that it not only be a travel magazine, but a magazine about places, people, culture, popular culture and much more.
Article source: https://www.nytimes.com/2019/10/19/travel/pamela-fiori-travel-magazine.html?emc=rss&partner=rss
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